Shippers’ dismay over EU regional CO2 regs

In a joint statement issued by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO and Intercargo, the institutions said that although the vote was expected, it is disappointed by the decision to pre-empt the current International Maritime Organization (IMO) negotiations on a global data collection system.

With the EU Regulation, which will also apply to non-EU flag ships trading to Europe, there is real a danger that the initiative will be seen by non-EU nations as an attempt to present them with a “fait accompli.”

The EU Regulation includes controversial elements, such as the publication of commercially sensitive data on individual ships, an idea which had previously been rejected by the majority of IMO governments during a meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee in October 2014.

At the IMO, negotiations on additional measures to help reduce CO2 will continue at the MEPC meeting in mid-May. The institutions said that it will be vital there for EU Member States to explain how the new EU Regulation can be implemented in a way which is fully compatible with whatever might be agreed by IMO for global application. This is important in the interests of avoiding the unhelpful complication of a separate regional regime.

The shipping industry associations reiterate that the latest IMO Green House Gas Study published in 2014, found that international shipping had reduced its total CO2 emissions by more than 10% between 2007 and 2012, despite an increase in maritime trade.

Further emissions and efficiency regulation is currently under discussion at the IMO’s meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee.